Iridium network progressing despite launch delay By Susan Nadeau
SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Feb 12 (Reuters) - Despite recent
satellite launch delays, Motorola Inc. said Thursday
the Iridium LLC global communications satellite system will be
ready for commercial service, as planned, in September.
"We'll figure out a way still to make our dates," Jack
Scanlon, president of Motorola's Cellular Networks and Space
Sector, said in an interview.
Motorola is the principal contractor for Iridium LLC, a
consortium launching a network of 66 low-Earth-orbit satellites
that will allow users to make wireless phone calls fromanywhere on Earth.
A launch planned for last week was again postponed on
Thursday due to weather problems. The countdown progressed to
within a minute of launch, but unfavorable upper winds forced
the delay. Another attempt will be made on Friday morning.
The $5 billion Iridium venture currently has 46 satellites
orbiting 878 miles above the Earth, and five more are on the
McDonnell Douglas Delta II rocket launch which was just
postponed. McDonnell Douglas is a unit of Boeing Co.
In fact, the first call has been made over the system,
beaming Scanlon's voice from a Motorola site in Arizona to
Motorola's sector headquarters in Schaumburg.
"It was a mind-blowing experience," said Scanlon, who was
the first to make a call. He called his secretary.
Iridium is one of three global satellite systems Motorola
is involved in. Motorola came up with the idea for Iridium more
than a decade ago, gathered financial support from various
other entities and now is the main contractor and holds about a
20 percent equity stake in the venture. Iridium World
Communications Ltd. is the publicly traded portion ofthe investment.
"I think this is a service you'll see ramp up very, very
fast," Scanlon said, adding high-level international executives
will be targeted for the service, which will be connected to
other current wireless phone services. "It's such a uniqueservice."
Motorola is also planning Celestri, a system of both
low-Earth-orbit and geosynchronous satellites in fixed
positions more than 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface.
Another system, the M-Star, has been folded into Celestri,
estimated to cost at least $12 billion, Scanlon said.
Commercial service for Celestri is now scheduled to begin
in 2003, Scanlon said, and satellite launches will start latein 2001.
Whereas Iridium is mainly for voice phone calls for people
on the go, Celestri will be for stationary use and will handle
vast amounts of data or video. Scanlon said Motorola is looking
for additional partners and funding for the Celestri system, as
it did with Iridium. In addition, Scanlon said Motorola will be part of a
next-generation system being planned by Iridium LLC. It will
likely combine the mobility of Iridium with the large data
capabilities of Celestri.
"The next real frontier for communications is in space,"Scanlon said. |
